Originally Posted by RobotDoctor
Also, the size of the airport with room for expansion, separation of runways was also a selling point. This is a great concept except that the airport designers had a flaw in their design. The runways are 4,000 feet apart which is the minimum distance for low visibility simultaneous flight operations. However, the designers failed to account for the mile high altitude, which mandates an additional 10 percent meaning for visibility simultaneous flight operations to be valid at DIA (DEN) then the runways have to be 4,400 feet apart.
From Saturday's Rocky Mountain News article on the ten great myths surrounding DIA, I present...
"
Myth 7: Tight quarters
Opponents circulated a rumor that DIA's runways were being built too close together. This has a kernel of truth buried deeply within it.
DIA was to be the world's first airport to allow triple simultaneous landings in bad weather, and the runways were spaced to allow just that.
But the Federal Aviation Administration forgot one thing: Denver's mile-high air affects airplane speeds. Planes come in faster, which requires even more room between runways so they can maneuver in an emergency.
To compensate for the oversight, the FAA developed and installed special final-approach radar at DIA.
On its opening day, in a storm, DIA hosted the first-ever three-at-once low-visibility landing. "
The complete article is
here.